Illinois Connection

Karen wrote about the Cherry Mine Disaster in Cherry, Illinois - the worst mine fire in US history.

Biographical and Professional Information

Karen Tintori is the non-fiction pen name of Karen Katz, a multi-published author of both fiction and non-fiction. ''Trapped: The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster'' is her first solo book. Under the pen name Jillian Karr, she co-authored ''Something Borrowed, Something Blue'', which was turned into a two-hour movie of the week for CBS Television. A second Jillian Karr novel is entitled ''Catch Me if You Can''. The authors' first collaboration was ''What Does Being Jewish Mean?'' Her book ''Unto the Daughters: Love, Honor and Death in a Sicilian Family'', is a non-fiction book that centers on a long-held secret in her mother's family. Karen graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit, where she majored in journalism and covered the campus for the New York Times. She was an assistant editor on the ''FTD FLORIST'' Magazine and had a successful career in public relations before she began writing books.

Published Works

What Does Being Jewish Mean, Fireside (Simon & Schuster), 1991 - written with Rabbi E.B. Freedman and Jan Greenberg

The granddaughter of a survivor recounts the tragedy that killed 259 miners, describing the fire that devastated a coal mine in Cherry, Illinois, the trial that followed, and the implications for workers' compensation laws.

"Karen Tintori thought she knew her family tree. Her grandmother Josie had immigrated from Sicily with her parents at the turn of the century. They settled in Detroit, and, with Josie's eight siblings, worked to create a home for themselves away from the poverty and servitude of the old country. But Josie had a sister that nobody spoke of. Her name was Frances, and at age sixteen, she fell in love with a young barber. Her father wanted her to marry an older don in the neighborhood mafia--a marriage that would give his sons a leg up in the mob. When Frances instead eloped with her barber, her father and brothers killed her for it. Even eighty years and two generations later, Frances and her death were not spoken of, her name was erased from the family genealogy, her pictures burned, and her memory suppressed. Unto the Daughters is a historical mystery and family story that unwraps the many layers of family, honor, memory, and fear to find an honor killing in turn-of-the-century Detroit."--Page 4 of cover.

Natalie Landau, a museum curator with an expertise in protective amulets and magical beliefs, has received a puzzling gift from her sister Dana--a necklace with a blue evil eye pendant on it. When Natalie learns Dana was murdered only hours after sending the gift, she begins to think the amulet had something to do with her sister's death.

Awards

Karen was honored at the 2004 Illinois Authors Book Fair sponsored by the Illinois Center for the Book and the Illinois State Library in Springfield, Illinois.